Company raided after selling used spare parts as new equipment in Oman

Muscat: The Public Authority for Consumer Protection raided an enterprise that was selling used spare parts as brand new equipment after recycling them. The company was doing this for over three years, authorities have said.

According to officials, the enterprise was selling these spare parts for construction equipment and heavy machinery.

In a statement online officials said, “The authority cooperated with the Public Prosecution and ROP to uncover a company that recycled spare parts and sold them as brand new to 35 other companies.”
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Al Fadhl al Yahmadi, a personnel from the Commercial Fraud Department at PACP said, “The company, which specialised in the manufacture and sale of tools and equipment for construction and heavy machinery, sold used spare parts after recycling them and purporting that they were new. Officials monitored the business for three weeks and gathered evidence, after which a raid was conducted.”

During the raid, multiple infractions were found, explained al Yahmadi. “The workplace was below health and safety requirements. Forty employees worked on modifying, cleaning, and selling used parts after replacing the old sequence numbers. A number of the accused confessed to having bought spare parts from iron waste companies. They then modified and repainted the parts and sold them as brand new. They admitted to having done this for the past three years.

“Moreover, some of the employees were not licensed to work at the company, or were working using permits specific to other trades,” Yahmadi added.

Omar al Jahdhami, vice chairman of the PACP for consumer services and market control, said the company’s actions were against article 7 of the Consumer Protection Law, which states, ‘It shall be prohibited to trade in any adulterated, corrupt, counterfeit commodities or any commodities that are not authorised for trading and the same may not be advertised and the regulations shall determine what commodities shall be deemed as adulterated, corrupt or counterfeit.’